The Daily Word of Righteousness

Preparing for Resurrection

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:1)

The King, Christ Jesus, comes to us personally. When the Lord Jesus returns from Heaven every eye will see Him. But before His visible coming to the world He comes in the Spirit to the Christian who is pressing forward in the Kingdom of God. Jesus calls forth from the dead the various aspects of the believer's personality.

It is critically important that the Christian does not put off into some future age all the aspects of the resurrection from the dead, meanwhile living in the appetites of the flesh. We Christians already have passed from death into resurrection life. Our spiritual nature already is located in Heaven at the right hand of God because Christ is our Life. We are part of His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God. Now the Lord must perform the work of creating resurrection life in our personality so we are able to express in our thinking and actions what is true of us in the heavenlies.

After we repent of our sins and are sprinkled with the blood of atonement, Christ is born in us. From this point forward the Spirit of God seeks to gain control of our mind, our tongue, our motives, and our actions. We are exhorted to live and walk in the Spirit of God and to shun the impulses and appetites of our body and soul.

The resurrection from the dead is at work in us now, not the resurrection of our body but the resurrection of our spirit and soul. Our inner man is responding to Divine Life now. This is why Paul warns us that if we live in the appetites of the flesh we will die. If we spend our energy and time in the occupations of the body and soul, the Divine Life that has been given us upon our receiving Christ will be crowded out of our personality. We will destroy our own resurrection.

Neglecting to cultivate the Divine Life that has been born in us leaves us in a corrupt condition. We become increasingly unable to respond to the call of Christ. Our inability to hear His voice will result in our being unable to respond to Him when He appears from Heaven.

Some will be taken but others, who have neglected their salvation, will be left. It is of the greatest importance that we lay hold on resurrection life today so that when the Lord comes our lamp will be burning brightly.

After we are saved and baptized with the Holy Spirit we enter the Life of the Holy Spirit. We learn to submit to God's Spirit. Learning to walk in the discipline and true liberty of the resurrection Life of the Spirit of God is part of the spiritual fulfillment of the blowing of Trumpets. The trumpet of the Lord sounds and the dead arise and walk in eternal life.

The Lord Jesus works with us faithfully, preparing us for our place in His Kingdom. The true saint has fellowship with his King each day (although sometimes the way becomes dark and perplexing and we must walk by blind faith). The coming of the King to us in this fashion is part of the spiritual fulfillment of the Levitical Blowing of Trumpets.

Each one of us can stand in triumph before the Lord in that Day.

If this is our hope let's get with the program! (from Deuteronomy 16:16)